Fluid-operated head increaser



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H. B. TAYLOR FLUID OPRATED HEAD INCREASER F'ledjune 23. 1920 vmay 19, 192s.

7. @mamon May 19, 1925.

H. B. TAYLOR FLUID OPERATED HEAD INCREASER Filed June 2.a 1920 2 sheets-sheet 2 A NVENToA if?) TToRNEYs,

Patented May 19, 1925.

UNITED STATES HARVEY IBIRCHARD TAYLOR, 0F

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLUTD-OPERATED HEAD INCREASER.

Application led June 23,

I'o al? whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HARVEY BIRCHARD TAYLOR, a citizen oi' the United States, re-" siding at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in F luid-Operated Head Increasers, of which the following is aspeciiication.

This invention relates to hydraulic power plants and particularly to means for increasing the effective head on the turbine runner. The effective head is the difference between the initial head at entrance and the absolute pressure head against which the runner discharges. This diiference may be increased by opening an auxiliary gate in the wall of the draft tube below the runner and thereby admitting auxiliary water under the initial head on the plant. This auxiliary water entering and A passing through the draft tube at high velocity entrains the runner discharge and accelerates it and has the effect of an ejector, reducingV the absolute pressure against which the runner discharges, and thus increasing the effective head under which the runner is operating. This means of increasing the head is particularly useful in plants subject to considerable reductions of the Vhead during highwater conditions due to abnormal height'o't water in the tailrace, a condition which is very common in low head plants. In order, however, that the method oit' maintaining or increasing the head on a runner just outlined may be economically applied, it is essential that the necessary modifications in the turbine structure and the additional mechanism which must be provided should be sufficiently inexpensive to avoid any undue increase in the cost per horse power of the development. The additional horse power obtainable by a device of this kind must be secured without a dispropor` tionate increase in the cost of the installation, or otherwise the adoption of a head increaser would be a doubtful economy.

The object of the present invention is to avoid complicated and expensive mechanisms for operating the gate of ahead increaser and to pro-vide simple fluid operated mechanism therefor compactly housed within the conto-ur of the turbine parts and controlled through piping from the power house floor above.

1920. Serial No. 391,036.

In the accompanying drawingsv illustrating a specific embodiment of the invention,

Fig.' l isa Vertical sectional view through a turbine. on line l, 1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. la is an enlarged View of a portion of Fig. l;

Fig. Q is a horizontal section on line 2, 2 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 3V is a .vertical sectional view of modified detail on enlarged scale. A

In the embodiment of the inventionv illustrated in the drawings, a vertical shaft turbine Tdrives the generator E on the fioor F of the power house and has its ruimer R receiving the flow vfrom intake I and dis-l charging it into draft tube Dwvhich is of the spreading type adapted to recover the energy of bot-h the axial and whirling components of velocity. y

The intake I is of volute form wrapping around the guide vanepassages to the runner R and of constantly narrowing cross secl tion in the direction of flow and the upper and lower circular walls 5 and 6 of this? volute are inclined toward the runner passagesand form in the powerhouse substructure the oppositely facing frusto-con? ical portions 7 and 4 between which are the speed ring 8 and adjustable guidevanes 9 guidingl and controlling the flow to the runner. Tl'n'ough lower conical portion 4, the passage 10 forms a by-pass toconduct water directlyT from the intake volute I tothe draft tube D at a point somewhat below the discharge edge of the runner R' without passing the flow through the ruimer.

This auxiliary pass or by-pass 10 is cir-` cular in form extending around the draft tube and is curved to turn its flow nearly axially in the direction of the draft tube'. A stay vane ring casting ll having varies.' l2 provides the surfaces of the by-pass walls and supportsV the structure above. The top portion of the ring llis formed as a casing of generally triangular shape in ver-j tical sectional view andthe upper portion of the casing is formed to fit and support the lower surface of the speed ringS and the wear ring 14 upon which bear the adjustable guide vanes 9 (see Fig. la).

Depending from the ring 14 and bolted thereto is the tubular section ci extending around' the shroud ring Gr of the runner R and also continuing at its lower portion below said shroud ring so as to form the Within the chamber C slides the gate Gr comprising a cylindrical ring carrying the annular piston 21 fitted within cham-A ber C and dividing the chamber into an upper or closing end o and a lower or opening end 02. rlhe cylinder 20Mis guided between the surfaces of the rings 11 and d and in its lowermost position (Fig. 1) closes by-pass 10 and may be moved upward to any desired extent to provide a corresponding opening through the by-pass. In Fig. 3 the gate Gr is shown divided vertically into sections for instance semi-circles with their ends flanged as at-35 and bolted to-V gether by bolts 36, this division being resorted to with gates ofl excessively large diameter.

The movement and position of the gate G are controlled by Huid pressure in ends .0', o? of chamber C, a-pipe 25 connected to end c and a pipe 26 to the end c2 and both pipes extending to the power house floor to have their fluid pressure or exhaust controlled by thevalve means V accessible on saidfloor. To open the auxiliary pass gate G pressure is admitted to end c2 of chamber C through pipe 26 and simultaneously pressure is exhausted from end o by pipe 25. To close the gate the pressure is admitted through pipe 25 and exhausted through pipe 26.

In Figs. 1 and 2 these pipes 25y and 26 are illustrated as passing through the hollow baffle vane 8 of the intake and auxiliary pass respectively while Fig. 3 illustrates Va modification in which these pipes are carried down outside of this bafiie and are connected to the ends of the operating y cylinder through integral passages 25 and 26 in the stay vane ring casting l1. To indicate the position of the gate G and aid the control means to maintain the desired adjustment, a restoring connection may be provided by arm 30 on the gate moving the vertical rod 31 connected by lever 32 to the control, the rod 31 preferably vpassingup through the intake and auxiliary pass baiiies and the arm 30 moving in a vertical recess formed between the extended sides of the auxiliary pass stay vane ring baffle 12 as shown.

The stay vanes 12 are inclined in the direction of the flowl and are preferably not extended all the way through the ring 11 but are confined to the outer portion thereof in vertical line with the vanes of speed ring 8. This saves 1n metal and leaves an streams may consolidate before entering the discharge in the draft tube D. Due tothe spreading character of the draft tube and its adaptability to recouvert the velocity of whirl into pressure head it may be advantageous in many cases to give a greaterI whirl to the auxiliary discharge than the normal whirl of the discharge from the runner. f

The construction provided by this invention complactly encloses the auxiliary gate and its operating' means within the natural boundaries of y the turbine parts. The source of pressure for vthe auxiliary gate may either be the pressure in the turbine intake or penstock, or pressure from the governor pumping system. In order to insure the operation of the gate under all conditions even when ythe gate has remained stationary for long periods of time, and may vannular space S in which the whirling tend to stick in one position and offer a considerable resistancefto movement, a large piston area may readily be provided in the gate piston flange 21 without requiring an inconvenient width for the `flange. When pressure from the governor pumping 'system is used to operate the gate, no diiiiculty is introduced by the use of al large piston area since. there is no need for imposing a large and sudden demand for motive fluid and at the infrequent times when the gate of the head increaser has to be operated it can be moved slowly, and under ordinary conditions of operation will remain in its new position for a considerable time without requiring further change in position.l This is due to the fact that, in general, changes of water level at a plant do not take place rapidly.

Anotheradvantage of the device of this invention is the Vprovision of a restoring mechanism connecting the gate with Ythe control valves by means of which the gate may be automatically maintained in any position corresponding to the setting of the hand wheel. The hand wheel or control 10 may be located at any convenient position in the plant suitableY for connection with the gate restoring mechanism. The pressure and exhaust piping, 25, 26 connecting with the spaces on either side ofthe piston flange of the gate can be ofV small or moderate size, since the gate motion need not be rapid, as just explained, and it is only necessary to insure that fluid may enter and leave the cylinder spaces in suflicient quantities to overcome the effects of leakage around the piston flange.

The continuous columnar support provided by thevane ringsll and 8 sustains the turbine structure from the foundation and surrounds and houses the movable guide for the removal of the'rings Hand dand` gate Gr up through speed vane ring 8, thereby rendering easy -the dismantling and replacement of the movable 'parts of the head The use of fluid pressure means for operating the gate of this device permits thepdesign of the gate and passages to be made compact, so that the point Where the bypass passages enter the draft tube can be placed close to the runner, where the velocity in the draft tube is a maximum, thus increasing the effectiveness of the device.

The provision of a vane-free space between the guide vanes of the bypass and the point of discharge into the draft tube furnishes a transition space in which under some conditions of operation the auxiliary flow can gradually change its whirl to adapt its velocity to that in the draft tube.

1. In a hydraulic turbine the combination with an intake and draft tube and a turbine runner between said intake and tube, of a by-pass from said intake to said draft tube below said runner, an axially movable gate for said by-pass, and operating means for said gate contained within the annular space bounded by the inner wall of the intake, the upper wall of said by-pass and the axially directed port-ion of the turbine conduit at the upper end of the draft tube.

2. In a hydraulic turbine the combination with an intake and draft tube and turbine ruimer between said intake and tube, of a by-pass from said intake to said draft tube below said runner, a gate for said by-pass, and fluid pressure operating means for said gate contained within the annular space bounded by the inner wall of said intake, the upper wall of said by-pass and the axially directed portion of the turbine conduit at the upper end of the draft tube.

3. In a hydraulic turbine the combination with a runner, of a speed ring in the intake to said runner, a draft tube, a by-pass between said intake and said draft tube, a gate for said by-pass, and fluid pressure operating means for said gate contained Within the annular space bounded by the inner wall of said intake, the upper wall of said by-pass and the axially directed portion of the turbine conduit at the upper end of the draft tube, said operating means being removable through said speed ring.

4. In a hydraulic turbine the combination with a runner of an intake passage and draft tube therefor, a by-pass between said intake and draft tube and control means for said by-pass comprising a gate having a piston portion and meansfor applying liuid pressure to said piston to operate said gate.

ring, a draft tube, a casing supporting said speed ring and having a by-passage for flow to increase the headon said turbine, and a gate and fluid pressure-1 operating meansk therefor in saidcasing. l i

6. A hydraulicturbine having afspeed ring, a draft tube, a casing supporting isaid speed ring, and havinga Vby-passage for llow to increase the head on said turbine, and al 5. A hydraulic turbinehaving la' speed gate and fluid vpressure operating means therefor in said casing,'--the inner wall of said casing being continuous with and forming a part of said draft tube.

7. In a hydraulic turbine the combination with an intake passage and a draft tube, of a casing between said passage and said draft tube, and having a by-passage for flow to increase the head on said turbine, and a gate and fluid pressure operating means therefor in said casing.

8. In a hydraulic turbine the combination with an intake passage and a draft tube, of a casing between said passage and said draft tube, and having a by-pass'age for flow to increase the head on said turbine, and a gate having a piston and fluid pressure operating means therefor in said casing.

9. A hydraulic turbine comprising a runner and having as an integral part of its support a casing having apassage to bypass the water into the draft tube beneath said runner, a gate for regulating the flow through said passage, and fluid pressure controlled means in said casing for moving said gate.

10. A hydraulic turbine having a speed ring, a draft tube anda casing having a by passage for flow to increase the head on the turbine discharging into said dnaft tube and vanes forming substantially vertical columns With the vanes of said speed ring, a gate controlling the flow through said head increaser and fluid pressure controlled means in said casing for moving said gate.

l1. A hydraulic turbine having a speed ring, a casing having auxiliary passages beneath said speed ring, and a gate regulating the flow through said passages and having a piston moving in an annular cylinder in said casing.

12. A hydraulic turbine having a speed ring, a casing having auxiliary passages beneath said speed ring, and a gate regulating the flow through said passages and having a piston moving in an annular cylinder in said casing, said gate having a diameter less than the opening through the speed ring so as to be withdrawable therethrough.

13. A hydraulic turbine having an intake, a speed ring, a runner, a draft tube, a bypass from said intake opening into said the stay vanes and the dnaft tube.

l. In a hydraulic turbine the combination with a runner 0f an intake passage and draft tubetherefor, a vbypass between said intake and draft tube, and control means for said bypass comprising a gate having a pis-` tonv portion and means for applying fluid pressure to said piston to operate said gate,

means orycontrolling said fluid pressure,Y

and a restoring mechanismy between said gateV and saldmeans.

completely annular in form at all points between said surfaces of revolution and flaring outwardly to gradually turn and decelerate the flow and recover the energy of both the axial and whirling components of velocity, anda by-pass adapted to discharge water directly from said intake into the draft tube in directions having tangential components about the turbine axis.

HARVEY BIRGHARD TAYLOR. 

